100 Themes - TMNT
by Bertha Darling
Summary: A series of one shots and possible short chapter stories based on themes. (Chapter 3. Dark. Donnie gets lost in a dark part of the sewers.)
1. Intro

Saving Grace

_Introduce: Bring into use or operation for the first time._

_Reintroduce: Bring into existence again._

Yoshi had stayed in the alley longer than what was safe. He had lain prostrate, eyes clenched shut long after the pain had subsided. He didn't understand what the glowing substance had done to him, but he knew it had changed him greatly. If he was completely honest, he didn't want to move because he was afraid of what he would see, what his reflection would be. But the sounds of a city waking up drove him to get off the wet ground.

The puddle beneath him was shallow and muddy. Even so, he could see the snout that protruded from his face, the cone shaped ears that twitched with every new sound. He didn't need the water to know that whatever was flicking around his feet was attached to him. Yoshi stood to his feet and looked down over his fur covered body. A rat. He was a rat.

Disgust surged through Yoshi, coupled by intense anger. What had he done to deserve this? The world had taken his life, Tang Shen, his daughter. He had fled to America, searching for a way to move on. He had hoped to disappear in the teeming mass of New York. Instead he had been spit out, a monster, no longer able to slide by on the edges of society.

Yoshi had stayed in the alley longer than what was safe. The world was moving and if he didn't hide, he would be found and pursued. In the despair that clouded around him, Yoshi could only think of one place he could go; the sewers.

For a normal person, the man hole covers were too heavy to move. Proper equipment was needed in order to access the sewers. But Yoshi quickly discovered that his new form had more strength than he had thought. It was quite simple to gain entrance to the dark abyss.

Just as he was about to disappear through the open man hole, Yoshi caught sight of a pair of eyes. As he had lain there he had heard faint rustling, but had attributed it to a cat digging through the garbage. Now that he could see the eyes that peered out at him, he knew it had been no cat. Though frightened, the grey orbs stared out of the darkness with intelligence. They drew back slightly when they realized they had been seen, but continued to stare out.

In the creature's shifting, Yoshi had caught a glimpse of green around the eyes. His apprehension disappearing, Yoshi called. "Come here." he winced at the growl of his voice as it came through his unfamiliar snout. The eyes drew back in alarm, nearly out of sight. Yoshi tried again, this time holding out his hand. "It's all right, little one. You can come here."

To his surprise, the eyes multiplied, a startling green set joined the first, wary. The first pair crept forward slowly as two more joined, making it four pairs of eyes in the darkness. Yoshi watched in amusement as a green three fingered hand, then an arm, and finally the head revealed itsself to the world. The creature crawled further forward and Yoshi held back as gasp as he saw the hard plates that lined its back. It was a turtle.

During his mutation, Yoshi had forgotten all about the four turtles that he had dropped. He would have assumed that they had wandered away. Yet here they were, alive and had apparently changed like him. One by one they edged into the light. Blank faces focused on him. Four of them. Four mutated turtles who would now need to be taken care of. He could not, in good conscious, just leave them to die.

Yoshi reached out to the foremost one, the creature who had first seen him. It drew back a little from his hand and he paused. Then, to his surprise, the creature's tiny hands grasped his. They gazed at each other and Yoshi saw past the blank stare and saw a child. A child that had reached out to him when nobody else would.

With sight blurring from sudden tears, Yoshi saw the four turtles clearly. They were his saving grace, given when he thought the world had forsaken him. And as a truck careened past, and the alarmed turtles all pressed close, Yoshi's broken heart opened. He gathered the four in his arms and slipped into the sewers.


	2. Smile

Work of Art

**Hey everyone! I forgot about these note things. Anyways, thanks so much for all the views and reviews! I felt so excited when I saw that people liked what I'd written.**

**So here's the next theme: Smile. It fought me like a banshee. I was having trouble coming up with an idea. The chapter that you are about to read is actually version 4, but it's the one that I like the most. The Turtles are about 5 or 6 in this one. And the arguing at the beginning is Leo and Raph. I thought I'd play around with Mikey for this one. Hope you like it!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own them. Not for profit. Just for fun.**

_Master piece: A person's greatest piece of work._

_"__That's not how you're supposed to do it."_

_ "Sure it isn't"_

_ "No. Your legs aren't straight enough."_

Mikey hummed quietly to himself in the glow of the kitchen's lights. Not any song in particular, just whatever he wanted. His legs swung back and forth, not yet long enough to reach the rungs around the legs of the stool, much less the floor. He straightened the pile of paper in front of him, but in reaching for the pencil that had rolled away he knocked the white sheets out of alignment again.

_ "Do you think I care if I do it right?"_

_ "You should. Master Splinter will make you do it over and over if you don't."_

Exaggerated sigh. Mikey shifted the papers back into their place. He smiled at them and clasped the pencil in his right hand. Line after squiggle after line began to fill the page. His feet kept kicking.

_"__What makes you think you're so high and mighty?"_

_ "__At least I know how to __do a proper handstand."_

_ "__Then show me." Shove. Crash._

_ "Guys! I'm trying to work!"_

A tiny tip of pink tongue poked out at an especially hard part. His brow puckered in concentration and the feet stopped their back and forward motion to clench.

_"__You're __both__ so loud!"_

_ "Get off me, Raph!" St__r__uggle._

Mikey's face smoothed out as he cocked his head, staring intently at the picture in front of him. After a tense moment he smiled in satisfaction. Continued kicking and drawing. His humming grew louder to compete with the scuffling sounds coming in from the common area..

_"Raph! Stop it!"_

_ "Make me!"_

_ "__Will you two be quiet?!" __Stop. "...No. No no nonononono!"_

_ "Get him!"_

_ "__Gyah__!"_

Mikey's nose scrunched up and he sneezed before adding one more line to his page. He stopped, studied it, then scrawled his name on the bottom decidedly.

_ "Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Leo! Stop!"_

_ Giggles._

"Michelangelo? What are you doing?"

Mikey looked up, his eyes bright and a wide smile in place. "I'm drawing, Sensei."

_Scuffles. Grunts. "Stay still, Donnie."_

_ "No!"_

"And what are you drawing, my son?"

"Us." he held up the picture. "See?"

_"__Finally!"_

_ "He's getting away!"_

_ "Agh –__ Ooof." __Thud._

_ "Not anymore."_

_ "__Raph!"_

"That's you, and Leo, and Donnie, and Raph, and me. And we're smiling cause we're happy." Splinter placed his paw on Mikey's shoulder. "It is good."

"Thanks!" It wasn't possible for Mikey's face to light up more.

_"Are you ticklish Donnie?"_

_ "No! No! Raph, get off!"_

"What are your brothers doing?" Splinter walked to the doorway.

"They're practising handstands." Matter-of-fact. Mikey jumped off the stool. Both peered out into the common area. Donnie was pinned on his carapace, Leo above his head straining to hold back his struggling arms. Raph sat squarely on Donnie's middle, tickling him mercilessly.

"I can see that." A smile toyed in the corners of Splinter's mouth.

Mikey vibrated at his side. He looked up at his father. Splinter held out his hand and Mikey clapped the picture into it. He bounded across the room and pounced on Leo, freeing Donnie and giving him a fighting chance against Raph.

Splinter watched as his four sons wrestled around the common area, giggles interspersed with occasional grunts. He drew Mikey's precious picture up to his eyes. While it may not be able to compete with Mikey's namesake's works, it was a master piece in its own way. Splinter smiled and walked back into the kitchen. When he left, the hand drawn picture hung from the front of the fridge.

**Now that it's written, I think I really like it. I tried a different style and it was pretty fun.**


	3. Dark

Darkening

**Helloo!**

**So, I'm slowly ageing these Turtle boys. In this one, they're about 11. It was really tempting to focus on Mikey again, but Donnie (and Leo) kinda demanded some attention.**

**Anyways, enjoy! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own them. Not for profit. Just for fun. And the occasional moment of "AGH! I can't do this! WHY?" But mainly for fun.**

* * *

_Fear: A distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined._

"Abandon hope all ye who enter here.*****" It had been written on the Gates of Hell and now it resounded in Donatello's mind. The darkness around him seemed to press forward, sensing his despair. Shadows danced on a sinister stage of deepening black, playing tricks in sadistic amusement. Donnie drew his legs closer, wrapping his trembling arms around his knees. It was foolish to be afraid of the dark; Mikey was the only one who slept with a night light. But the darkness of home and darkness of strange sewer tunnels were two very different things.

They had been playing tag, a simple game. He shouldn't have gotten lost. Out of all the brothers he was the one with the most knowledge of the tunnel system surrounding their subterranean home. In fact, it was this exact knowledge that had allowed him to escape from Raph earlier. His hot-headed brother tended to be relentless in the chase, but Donnie had turned corner after corner, leading Raph further into the darkening sewer tunnels. Eventually he had seemingly given up the pursuit. Donnie had continued weaving his way through the dark, following the map in his mind; there was no telling what Raph would do when he was "It."

The thought that he could probably stop had just crossed Donnie's consciousness when he had careened around another right corner and tripped over the loose bricks that lay in his way. That particular area was one that tended to flood frequently and though it hadn't rained in about a week, the floor was still slippery. It had also happened to be one of the tunnels that was built on an incline. Donnie had tumbled down the wet slope, knocking his head before he brought up his arms to shield it. When he had finally hit the bottom and skidded to a stop on his carapace, Donnie's world had been thrown in enough circles to make him unsure of which way was home. He had gotten up and attempted to get back, but a couple of hesitant wrong turns and a long hour of walking through dark tunnels later, he found himself lost.

"In the middle of the journey of our life I found myself within a dark woods where the straight way was lost.*****" Donnie tucked his head down underneath his arms, trying to escape the oppressive heaviness around him, but he soon found that darkness only felt is far worse that darkness merely seen. It reminded him of the section in Dante's Inferno in which those punished for anger fought in the river Styx. And those who lost sank.

"Into a black sulkiness which can find no joy in God or man or the universe.*****" He found himself muttering the lines out loud. When the ratty paperback book had washed down into the sewers, Donnie had jumped at the chance of reading new material. At first Master Splinter had been skeptical of letting his young son read the book, but Donnie had been able to convince him that he was old enough. He wouldn't get scared, he had claimed. And he hadn't. It had been easy hold off fear when reading in the light, surrounded by family that was only a shout away. In that environment fear hadn't even been a thought Donnie had entertained. The book had fascinated him.

Yet here, in the pitch black sewer tunnels, lost and alone, lines kept crowding into Donatello's mind, more alive than they had ever been. Words took on new meanings, and sentences that had been harmless in the light suddenly turned, revealing their truly savage nature. Donnie had never been afraid of words before. Words could be explained. They did the explaining. Words were what Donnie used to chase away Mikey's fears. And now, as he was alone, lost in despair, words that had always been a stronghold turned out to be a trap. They made the darkness live. They made the darkness breathe.

Donnie pushed aside his thoughts, deciding to grapple with them later. They complied, barely, the fear threatening at any moment to overcome his hastily built barriers and consume everything again. He would stay here for the night and see if any daylight could help him find his way home. No doubt his family would be worried sick about him. They were probably out looking for him right now. But there was nothing he could do to help. The best thing was to stay in one place.

Water had pooled in the middle of the tunnel, but the spot Donnie sat in was relatively dry. He swept his hand over the ground beside him in a vain attempt to wipe away the grime. The hard concrete was hardly a substitute for his usual bed. Donnie shivered from the cold and wedged his shell as far back against the wall as it would go. He used his arm as a pillow and curled up small and tight.

If he hadn't been so close to the ground Donnie would never have heard the faint pounding of footsteps beating against concrete. He would never have heard a dim voice calling his name desperately. And he would never have called back, his answer wavering in the dark.

The voice exclaimed in jubilation and the darkness fled away from a growing light. "Donnie!" Leo slid around the corner and Donnie just clung to his brother, wincing in the sudden freedom of blessed light. Sobs burst out, beyond his control. Leo gently set the lamp down and knelt by his brother, wrapping his arms around as much of him as he could. "It's okay Donnie. I've got you."

* * *

Raph and Mikey had already reached home by the time they got back. Donnie had calmed down soon after Leo arrived, but he was still a bit pale. Leo had waved off their Mikey's curiosity and Raph's questions. "He got distracted and just lost track of time. Nothing big." Mikey had been satisfied, rushing off to tell Splinter that Donnie was back. Raph wasn't so easily sated, but he held back any further comments after a meaningful look from his big brother.

They had all gone to bed pretty soon after, Leo had being the last. He made sure that Donnie was okay in his room before closing his own bedroom door.

And when that door slid open a little while later, Leo simply slid over to make space, content to be the comfort his brother needed.

* * *

**So that's that. (This one is my longest one yet. Yay!) I hoped you liked it. Feel free to leave a comment. Thanks to everyone who has read, reviewed, favourited, etc, so far! You are all so awesome!**

**Next up we have Light. Hm...**

*** Excerpt from Dante's Inferno.**


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